National Archaeology Museum : One of the most important archaeological museums in the world. I spent about 4 hours here reading up on Ancient History. Here were some highlights...
I liked this statue of Aphrodite, Pan and the cherub Eros. Pan is harassing Aphrodite, who has taken her left sandal off and is ready to smack him with it. Eros is still trying to make his love match and she will have none of it. Circa 100 BC.
Abs-Of-Steel Greek God Poseidon, 125 BC. He would have held a trident in his hand.
Statue entitled ''The Little Refugee''. He wears a hood tied at his throat and is holding on tightly to a little dog. Circa 100 BC.
Even rich dogs had tombstones. Circa 375 BC.
Statue of the mythical Greek King and hero Odysseus, also known by his Roman name Ulysses. He was a character in ancient Greek literature (he won the Trojan war; Sean Bean portrayed him in Troy). He's looking pretty ashamed and despondent here despite his success.
Statue of the Amazon Queen Penthesilea. (Marianne, j'ai pensé à toi!) The Amazons were a nation of all-female warriors, and the debate is on as to whether they were historical or mythical. The historical writer Herotodus placed them in the area of Ukraine, whereas others say they lived in Asia or Libya. This Queen supposedly fought in the Trojan War.
Bronze statue of a horse and a young jockey, retrieved from a shipwreck. He would have held the reins in his left hand and a whip in his right hand.
I just loved the look on the boy's face; the furrows in his brow show such concentration and passion.
Sculpted around 140 BC.
Controversial bronze statue of either Zeus or Poseidon (the deity whom the statue portrays is the subject of great arguments among archaeologists). Retrieved from a shipwreck, sculpted around 460 BC.
Sphinxes were popular in Greek antiquity as well as in Egypt. Used as a funerary monument. Circa 570 BC.
A funerary monument that I found touching. The young mother, who has passed away, sits and looks sorrowfully upon her child, who is metaphorically reaching out for her while being held by another family member. Circa 500 BC.
Another beautiful face, carved around 500 BC.
Remember the movie 500 ? Well-chiseled men in skirts... Gory special effects... An outrageously violent battle between the insanely outnumbered Spartans and the bad, bad Persians... This was an important battle in Greece's history (no, it was not mythological) and these arrows were retrieved from that battle ground (in Thermopylae, in 480 BC). More on that battle in another blog, as I will eventually visit the real battle site.... The smaller arrows at the top were the Spartans', and the larger ones at the bottom were used by the Persians.
The Death Mask of Agamemnon, between 1550 BC and 1500 BC. Agamemnon was the brutal King of Mycenae, a rule-by-conquest tribe that ruled Greece from 1600-1100 BC (they killed off a lot of the Minoans and won the Trojan War). His presence in the Illiad and in the movie Troy (brilliantly portrayed by Brian Cox, if anyone wants to see a great performance) still creates confusion as to whether he was historical or not. Agamemnon was thought to be a mythological character (as was the city of Troy) until historical records proved his (its) earthly existence. Again, major controversy in the field of archaeology as to whether this is truly his death mask or not, but it's cool-looking all the same.
These Vaphio Gold Mycenaean cups are the museum's pride and joy. I wasn't interested in seeing them until they were in front of me, then I was fascinated. Made of solid gold and built around 1500 BC, they depict a hunt of wild bulls, and the taming of bulls using cows as bait. They were absolutely beautiful.
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Hadrian's Library, completed in 132 AD. Emperor Hadrian (he of the very large ego) loved Athens and visited often, and wanted to make it the Roman culture capital. Now a crumbling patch of ruins, this library took up a few city blocks and contained lecture halls, a cathedral, a pool and 16,800 books/papyrus rolls.
Part of the West wall. The Library was seriously damaged in 267 AD during the sacking of Athens by the Herulian tribe (the Scandinavians/Germans guys who also destroyed the Ancient Agora).
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ROMAN AGORA
When the Romans took over Greece, they were in awe of their art, their culture, their language, their religion... Basically, they worshiped the Greeks. They admired their Ancient Agora but still wanted their own place for commercial business exchanges. They built their own Agora; it's badly damaged and difficult to figure out, but here goes :
Tower of the Winds : An ingenious building that was a 'timepiece' (clock), sundial, weather vane and water clock. It was 12-meters high and was octagonal in shape. Built in 200 BC, before the Romans built their agora, actually....
Each of its 8 sides had a sculpture of one of the 8 winds and had markings on it (look carefully at bottom right of sculpture). The markings helped to tell the time according to the sun's position along the etched lines.
The Roman Agora's public latrines. There were 68 seating spots along all four sides of the building, and taxes were imposed on the use of these latrines. No hope for privacy, though: latrines were used by Romans for the main purpose of socializing.
The main entrance, the Arch of Athena Archegetis, was built between 19-11 BC and financed by both Julius Ceasar and Augustus Ceasar.
Ouf! Tons of stuff to see and do! Thanks for reading! xx
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